Haunting Your Yard!

You may have seen what is called “creepy cloth” online and at Halloween stores.  It’s something that could be used as curtains, or just a way to create a creepier effect.

I’ve seen it being sold for up to $1.75 a yard.  Considering this is probably one of the EASIEST things you can do yourself, to go buy it is a huge rip off.

Basically what “creepy cloth” is, is cheesecloth that is dyed and ripped up.  Cheesecloth has a TON of uses in a home haunt.

For example, I have taken a basic foam skull and glued layers of cheesecloth to it, then used fishing line to string up different parts of it, to give the effect of a flying ghost.

And when you get your own cheesecloth, you can then dye it a variety of colors to fit whatever your need is.

My recommendation would be to go to a fabric store – a real one, not a store that carries fabric in a section of the store.  You can by it in bigger quantities.  We got a box of it at Hancock Fabrics.  The normal sale price is 69 cents a yard (see – you’re saving a bunch of money already!).  We happened to get extremely lucky the day we went in – it was on sale for 33 cents a yard.

One thing we plan on doing with some of ours is hanging it from the ceiling in our garage in the voodoo scene, to give the feel of a swamp.  I got some black fabric dye and Dylan and I did a batch yesterday.  The first batch came out on the blacker/grayer side – the second, because most of the black pigment went into the first batch, came out on the bluer side.  I took a picture to show the difference.  I’ll have to play around with the colors as I’m not as thrilled with the bluer color.  We did this in a large bucket as well, which watered down the dye a bit.

I then decided to start experimenting a little with colors.  I have a huge box of this stuff, so why not.  I took some green food coloring and put a few pieces on a bowl.  I really didn’t let them sit too long.  It actually came out very interesting – almost a glow in the dark effect, so I’m interested in see what it looks like under lighting.

So really, this is one project that even the most un-crafty person can do themselves and save a bit money.  Once you start really looking at the cloth, you’ll start coming up with a lot of possible uses.   Like ripping it into strips and hanging it from props to create a mossy look.  Just think outside the box and you’ll discover that cheesecloth can be a home haunters best friend!